HISTORICAL REMARKS. 69 



caused such aa increase iu its production that the residuary product, rosin, became largely in 

 excess of the demand, and, iu cousequence, much depreciated. This reduction of profits in the 

 business caused the transfer of the stills from the leading markets to the source of the raw 

 material, the forest. From that time, 1844, dates the great progress made in the extension of this 

 industry. Up to that time more than half of the crude turpentine was distilled in North Carolina, 

 but thenceforth the industry spread into the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and the 

 Gulf States to the Mississippi Eiver. 



At the close of the war the demand for spirits of turpentine was not so great as before, 

 petroleum products of several kinds having been found to take its place not only for illuminating, 

 but .also for other purposes. With the general extension of arts and manufactures all over the 

 world, there has since been an increasing demand for spirits of turpentine and rosin. The exports 

 of these articles in the year 1890 amounted to -^8,135,339 in value. 



■rriU'KNTINE OHCIIARl)IX(i IX THK FOUESTS OF I.ONGLEAF PINE. 



In the establishment of a turpentine orchard and a still, two points must be considered, 

 namely, proper facilities of transportation to shipping points and a suflScieut sui)i)ly of water for 

 the condenser connected with the still. The copper stills generally in use have a capacity of about 

 800 gallons, or a charge of 20 to 25 barrels of crude turpentine. For such a still to be charged 

 twice in twenty-four hours during the working season, 4,000 acres of pine land of a good average 

 stand of timber are required. This area is divided into twenty parcels each of 10,000 boxes, as the' 

 receptacles are called, which are cut into the tree to receive the exuding resin. Such a parcel is 

 termed a crop, constituting the allotment to one laborer for the task of chipping. The work iu a 

 turpentine orchard is started in the earlier part of the winter with the cutting of the boxes. Until 

 some years past no tr'^es were boxed of a diameter less than 14 inches; of late, however, saplings 

 undei 10 inches in diameter are boxed. Trees of full growth, according to their circumference, 

 receive from two to four boxes, so that the 10,000 boxes are distributed among 4,000 to 5,000 trees 

 on an area of 200 acres. 



The boxes are cut (see PI. VIII) from 8 to 12 inches above the base of the tree, 7 inches deep 

 and slanting from the outside to the interior, with an angle of about 35°. In the adult trees they 

 are 14 inches in greatest diameter and 4 inches in greatest width, of a capacity of about 3 pints. 

 Tlie cut above this reservoir forms a gash of the same depth and about 7 inches of greatest height. 

 In the meantime the ground is laid bare around the tree for a distance of 2i to 3 feet, and all com- 

 bustible material loose on the ground is raked in heaps to be burned, in order to protect the trees 

 against danger of catching fire during the conflagrations which are frequently started in the pine 

 forests by design or carelessness. The employment of fire for the protection of the turpeutine 

 orchards against the same destructive agency necessarily involves the total destruction of the 

 smaller tree growth, and if left to spread without control beyond the proper limit, often carries 

 ruin to the adjoining forests. 



During the first days of spring the turpentine begins to flow and chipping is begun, as the 

 work of scarification is termed, by which the surface of the tree above the box is laid bare beyond 

 the youngest layers of the wood to a depth of about an inch from the outside of the bark. The 

 removal of the bark and of the outermost layers of the wood — the "chipping" or "hacking" — is 

 done with a peculiar tool, the "hacker" (flg. 9, <,/"), a strong knife with a curved edge, fastened 

 to the end of a handle bearing on its lower end an iron ball about 4 pounds in weight, to give 

 increased force to the stroke inflicted on the tree, and thus to lighten the labor of chipi)ing. As 

 soon as the scarified surface ceases to discharge turpeutine freely, fresh incisions are made with 

 the hacker. The chipping is repeated every week from March to October or November, extending 

 generally over thirty-two weeks, and the height of the chip is increased about 1 J to 2 inches every 

 month. The resin accumulated in the boxes is dipped into a pail by a flat trowel-shaped dipper 

 (fig. 9, (/) and then transferred to a barrel for trans])ortation to the still. In the first season from 

 six to eight dippings are made. The 10,000 boxes yield at each dip 40 barrels of " dip" or "soft 

 gum," as it is reckoned in Alabama, to be of 240 pounds net weight. The flow is most copious 

 during the height of the summer (July and August), diminishes with the advent of the cooler 

 season, and ceases in October or November. As soon as the exudation of the resin is arrested and 



